St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church

St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church at 606 W. 15th Street in Austin.
Photography credit: PICA 25856, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.

Docomomo US featured an important Austin mid-century resource in their February newsletter. Many of us have admired St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church while driving down 15th Street. The article "Saint Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church: Modernity and Continuity" by Jason John Paul Haskins, Assoc. AIA, LEED BD+C, provides an opportunity to learn more about this 1960 building by Robert Mather of Jessen Jessen Millhouse and Greeven. Haskins says that this "[m]id-century abstraction of the primitive Christian basilica represents a synthesis of international movements in architecture and liturgy uncovering archetypal models of inhabitation and ritual." We encourage you to read the full article on Docomomo's website at http://docomomo-us.org/news/saint_martin's_evangelical_church_modernity_and_continuity.  

Exhibit Reception: Austin's Deco and Moderne Legacy

Join AIA Austin, the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Texas, and Mid Tex Mod for this special event!

Don't miss this evening reception for the current exhibit, Deco and Moderne: Austin Architecture in the 1930s, on loan from the Austin History Center. Jim Parsons and David Bush, authors of several books including Hill Country Deco: Modernistic Architecture of Central Texas, will join us for this special event.

Thursday, September 6th
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Austin Center for Architecture, 801 W. 12th Street
RSVP to Lauren or call 452.4332

Jim Parsons is the director of special projects and walking tours chair for Preservation Houston. He also works as a freelance writer, editor, and photographer.

David Bush developed his lifelong interest in historic architecture while growing up in New Orleans. He has worked professionally in preservation since 1990, primarily at Galveston Historical Foundation and Preservation Houston.

David Bush and Jim Parsons have co-authored three books together, most recently Hill Country Deco: Modernistic Architecture of Central Texas, published by TCU Press in 2010. Their newest book, Fair Park Deco: Art and Architecture of the Texas Centennial Exposition, is due from TCU Press in October 2012.

East Austin History Walk and Talk

Thanks to all who joined us on the East Austin History Walk and Talk tour (aka Jane's Walk Tour). There was an excellent turn out, even with the mid-day thunderstorm. The tour was an epic 6 hours with a delicious stop at Casa Colombia.

Our tour guides were Dr. Eliot Tretter and Dr. Fred McGhee. We benefited from their deep knowledge, including Dr. McGhee's expertise as an anthropologist and historian of public housing and Dr. Tretter's research on the history and geography of segregation and neighborhood change. They shared important insights into the history of East Austin, from its early development to the public housing, urban renewal, and planning initiatives that shaped it at the mid-twentieth century and into the recent past. Here is a link to the hefty and in-depth tour packet [pdf] provided by Dr. Tretter. This is the tour map [jpg], which shows stops along our walking route.

The tour was in conjunction with the national network of tours that honor the memory of Jane Jacobs and her fight to preserve the vital neighborhoods of New York City from the ravages of planning efforts that failed to take into account the real lives of the people they claimed to help. On our tour we learned about the complex history of planning in Austin, from progressive efforts to genuinely help low income communities to blatant acts of racism and segregation.

Thank you to Dr. Eliot Tretter, Dr. Fred McGhee, Andrea Roberts (lead tour organizer), Josh Conrad (tour cartographer), and everyone who came on the tour for making this tour a success.

One of the attendees beat us to posting a blog entry. See more on Ryan Pollack's blog entry and Andrea Robert's blog.

Hear Edward Durell Stone's Accomplishments, Personal Struggles, Relationships (April 17)

Images courtesy of Hicks Stone

On Tuesday, April 17, there will be two exceptional opportunities to learn about Edward Durell Stone and experience his architectural legacy. Author and architect Hicks Stone is visiting Austin to talk about his book, Edward Durell Stone: A Son's Untold Story of a Legendary Architect.

The book represents a candid story of Edward Durell Stone's accomplishments, personal struggles, and relationships from the perspective of the person best equipped to share them, Stone's own son.

Special Book-signing EventTuesday, April 17, 2:30-3:30
The Westgate Tower
1122 Colorado Street
map

Hicks Stone will be available for a special book-signing at the lobby of the historic Westgate Tower. This is an opportunity to meet Hicks Stone in the only building in Austin designed by Edward Durell Stone. Mr. Stone will say a few words about his first visit to this landmark.

The Westgate Tower was listed on the National Register for Historic Places in 2010. The plaque will be available for viewing at this special event. More information is available on the National Trust's for Historic Preservation blog.

The book will be available for purchase ($85+tax). Cash or check are preferred. Credit cards will be accepted. The book can also be purchased in advance at the Austin Center for Architecture at 801 W 12th. Check the AIA-Austin website for hours or call 512.452.4332.

Lecture at the University of Texas at Austin
Tuesday, April 17, 5:00-6:00 pm
Goldsmith Hall, University of Texas at Austin
map

Hicks Stone will give a lecture on his father's life and work at 5:00 pm at Goldsmith Lecture Hall at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Parking is available on the street and at the nearby UT Coop Bookstore parking garage at 2214 San Antonio Street.

The lecture and book signing was organized by Mid Tex Mod in collaboration with Preservation Texas, AIA-Austin, and the UT-Austin Student Historic Preservation Association. The events are supported by the Goldsmith Society of the University of Texas School of Architecture, the North Texas chapter of Docomomo US, Gay and Lee Gaddis, JP Gumbles, Charles Peveto and the Westgate Condo Association.

Hicks Stone is also speaking in Houston and Dallas organized by Houston Mod and the North Texas Chapter Docomomo US.

More About the book
From the publisher: "Among the iconic projects for which Stone is responsible are The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the U.S.Embassy in New Delhi, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. But a negative reception among the architectural community often accompanied his popular and commercial successes, a double edge that continues to inform his legacy. Hicks Stone addresses a body of work that has been largely neglected, if not outright misunderstood. In answer to the chorus of criticism about the master architect’s works, Hicks Stone writes: 'I believe that my perspective as a son and architect offers me a unique and privileged position to address many of these bromidic and reflexive perceptions.'"

Edward Durell Stone's Architecture in Texas

• Kempner House (1952), Houston
• Bruno and Josephine Graf Residence (1956), Dallas
• Westgate Tower (completed 1965), Austin. (Note: this is listed as the Lumbermen's Company Office and Apartment Tower - 1963 on the website below.)
• Amarillo Fine Arts Museum (1969), Amarillo
• The Woodlands Conference Center (1973), Conroe
• Fort Worth Municipal Building (1975), Fort Worth

More information about Edward Durell Stone

Preservation Career Panel on Roof of Cambridge Tower

On November 2nd, the University of Texas at Austin Student Historic Preservation Association held a preservation career panel on the roof of Cambridge Tower (follow link to read more about Austin's mid-century landmark of luxury). The event afforded a beautiful sunset view atop one of Austin's most prominent mid-century high rises.


Photo by Jeffrey Blockside

Panelists included experts on the preservation of modern architecture in Texas: Anna Mod from SWCA Environmental Consultants and Dave Bucek, Principal, Stern and Bucek Architects. The panel also included: Earl Broussard, Founder and President of TBG Partners Landscape Architecture and Planning; Jacqui Schraad, Executive Director of the Heritage Society of Austin; Kim McKnight, Historic Preservation Specialist, Parks and Recreation Department at City of Austin; and Laura Acuña, Archaeologist, SWCA Environmental Consultants.

A Mosaic History of Mid-century Austin Neighborhoods

At the heart of Austin's Crestview and Brentwood neighborhoods, the Crestview Shopping Center features not only an "old-school" deli, pharmacy and grocery store, but a unique mosaic that celebrates the history of these mid-century neighborhoods. Artist Jean Graham designed this charming monument with the help of the community and the nonprofit organization Violet Crown Community Works. The mosaic is located on Woodrow Avenue and W. St. Johns Ave., and is well worth a visit.




The mosaic is called the Wall of Welcome.


Iconic businesses, some long gone and others still present, are represented on the mosaic.







Frequent moon-like concrete medallions provide concise, in-depth interpretation.


Photos and blog post by Jenni Minner.

More info:
Austin Chronicle feature (2008)
A Community Mosaic (film shown at opening.)

Remodels to Austin's Duplex Nation Featured

Photo by Rutlio

Excerpt from Jeanne Claire van Ryzin's article:

"Tucked away in a pocket of central East Austin is a curious neighborhood made up entirely of duplex apartments.

Made of concrete masonry and covered with stucco, the boxy two-story buildings — with a 900-square-foot two-bedroom apartment on each floor — vary little from each other.

And the rumors about the origin of the singular enclave of duplexes rarely vary, too. Most who know the neighborhood — sometimes referred to as "Duplex Nation" — believe the vaguely midcentury buildings were originally University of Texas married student apartments or military housing.

In fact, the neighborhood is the Delwood Duplex Historic District, named earlier this year to the National Register of Historic Places. Built by a private developer in 1948 to meet the housing crunch after World War II, it's Austin's first postwar neighborhood to be listed in the register and an example of the mass-produced tract development housing that sprung up across the nation to accommodate returning servicemen and their young families."

Read rest of Austin American Statesman article

Challenge: where is this fabulous mid-century barrel vaulted roof?